It is with pleasure that I offer Mr. Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann my warmest congratulations on
his election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-third session. We have every confidence in his
exceptional skill and future success in consolidating
the gains achieved and in enhancing international
peace and security in a world system characterized by
prosperity, stability and progress. I would also like to pay
tribute to the valuable efforts made by his predecessor,
Mr. Srgjan Kerim, to strengthen the principles of dialogue
and consultation as a means to reach effective solutions
to international issues and disputes. I would further
like to express our thanks and gratitude to Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon for his continual efforts on
important issues relevant to reforming the Organization
and to enhancing international peace and security.
The current session of the Assembly is convening
at a time when our country, Mauritania, has undergone
a change of head of State. I would like to seize this
opportunity to explain the reasons for that change.
In August 2005, after two decades of political
tyranny, bribery and increasing corruption, the armed
forces and security forces intervened to put an end to
the grave abuses that threatened the structure and very
existence of the Mauritanian State. That move by the
Military Council for Justice and Democracy led to a
transitional democratic phase, which successfully
concluded in April 2007. Mauritanians and
international observers alive attested to the fairness and
transparency of that phase. The Mauritanian
experiment in democracy became an example worthy
of emulation. The satisfaction of various national and
international observers and the support of civil society
added to the success of the experiment. A series of
elections were held, with the support of international
partners, leading to the ratification by popular
referendum of the Constitution in June 2006.
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A Parliament with two chambers was elected in
November of the same year; a new president of the
Republic was elected in March 2007; and a new law
for the organization of the press was enacted in
October 2006, establishing a higher authority for the
press, radio and television. With respect to good
governance, a new general inspectorate of the State
was established; transparency initiative was
implemented in the field of extracting industries;
public officials were compelled to disclose their
financial affairs and property; and public transactions
are now undertaken in a transparent manner. Lastly,
women were accorded a quota of 20 per cent of all
candidatures in our Islamic republic. As a result,
18 women were elected to the current Parliament.
Those splendid achievements, in addition to the
atmosphere of harmony and accord enjoyed by the
people of Mauritania, are the result of the work of the
military establishment, which pledged to complete the
process within the announced time frame and indeed
kept its promise. Once the former President assumed
office, anything was possible in the new Mauritania,
with all its new institutional gains, in terms of
consolidating and deepening the achievements of the
transitional period of 2005 to 2007. Regrettably, from
the outset the former President demonstrated his
weakness and inability to lead the country and confront
the many challenges it faced.
Conditions in the country continued to seriously
deteriorate over the following 15 months in the
political, security, economic and social fields. The
deteriorating situation posed a real threat to the
country’s peace, security and stability. Indeed, it
threatened the very existence and foundations of the
State.
Thus our country has, over the past three months,
undergone an institutional crisis that led to an
interruption in the work of parliamentary institutions
and paralysed the affairs of the State, the stability of
which was threatened by the intransigence of the
executive authority, which prevented Parliament from
exercising its constitutional powers.
In order to secure the loyalty of some
parliamentarians from the majority party who were
unhappy with the difficult situation and concerned
about the future of the country, the former President
resorted to certain illegal measures that would be
unacceptable in any democratic system. He used public
funds to buy the allegiance of some parliamentarians.
In addition, he made some irregular appointments and
arbitrarily fired some high-ranking public officials in
order to stem the people’s desire for change. Moreover,
he continuously threatened to dissolve Parliament in
order to prevent the formation of a parliamentary
committee to investigate the sources of financing of a
private business created by his family.
The President returned to the Chair.
In the field of security and as a result of his laxity
and refusal to heed the advice of the security services,
a number of terrorist acts took place for the first time
in the country’s history, following the release of a
number of terrorists who had been in custody until he
took office.
Economically and socially, the situation was
simply disastrous. While the people suffered in
poverty, hunger and disease, the former President —
who, in the aftermath of floods that hit the country, had
visited only one city inside Mauritania, the city of
Tintane — made 25 visits abroad, costing Mauritanian
taxpayers huge amounts of money, without achieving
any tangible results in the field of cooperation between
Mauritania and its development partners.
The former President continuously and
intentionally obstructed the work of democratic
institutions and thus paralysed the State. Faced with the
failure of his manoeuvres, he resorted to firing high-
ranking officials in the leadership of the army and the
security services at the same time. That almost led to a
confrontation between high-ranking officers and
created a situation that could have brought the country
to the brink of civil war.
In view of the political impasse, the armed forces
and security forces, conscious of the serious dangers to
the country, intervened to correct the abuses and to
strengthen national unity and other gains made in the
country, as well as its prospects for development and
progress. That change enjoys the support of two thirds
of the members of Parliament, approximately 90 per cent of
mayors and two thirds of recognized political parties, in
addition to civil society organizations, including
cultural and professional societies. Support has also
been come from unprecedented popular marches.
The High Council of State declared its
commitment to protecting democracy and enhancing
democratic processes in Mauritania; guaranteeing the
43 08-53141
continued regular functioning of State institutions;
allowing officially recognized political parties to carry
out their activities; guaranteeing freedom of the press
and the media; respecting the obligations, agreements
and international treaties concluded in the name of the
Mauritanian State; and organizing free and transparent
elections at the earliest possible date.
Aware of the importance of and need for
integration among countries and peoples of the world,
Mauritania reaffirms its adherence to the Arab
Maghreb Union as a strategic choice of the people of
the region, the League of Arab States, the African
Union and the purposes and principles of the United
Nations.
In the same spirit, we reiterate our support for
efforts to reform the United Nations and, in particular,
the Security Council. We believe that the African
continent should be given permanent representation on
the Security Council; Africa has been the only
continent without permanent representation in the
Council since the creation of this Organization. We
also call for giving the Arab Group representation in
the Security Council in view of the fact that it
represents more than 11 per cent of the peoples of the
world. We support granting permanent seats in the
Security Council to Japan and Germany, since both
countries play a vital role in the maintenance of
international peace and security.
Allow me to pay special tribute to the great
efforts made at the sixty-second session of the General
Assembly in the field of development, especially with
respect to the steep rise in food prices and all other
goods, the financing of development projects and the
problem of greenhouse gases and their effect on the
planet.
The sixty-third session of the General Assembly
falls at a very difficult time, when the world is
confronting sharp increases in food prices, that
negatively affect the economies of developing
countries and could even undermine the economic
structure of those countries if no urgent measures are
taken to address the problem. The food crisis facing the
world requires concerted international efforts and
strategies to overcome its negative effects.
Today, we are halfway to the deadline for
achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
However, many developing countries are still far from
achieving those Goals. That is why we call on rich
countries to keep their promises to finance
development in the developing world.
The Arab-Israeli conflict is a source of tension
and a threat to international peace and security in a
vital and sensitive region of the world. That is why my
country supports the efforts to settle the conflict in a
manner that guarantees the Palestinian people the
restoration of their rights and the establishment of their
own State, with Jerusalem as its capital, coexisting in
peace and security with the State of Israel.
As regards the question of the Sudan, we totally
and categorically reject the most recent developments,
in particular the request of the Prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant
for the President of the Sudan. We believe that such a
move would jeopardize peace efforts in that brotherly
country and increase tensions in that sensitive region of
the world.
My country follows the question of the Western
Sahara with interest. While we welcome the latest steps
taken to return to the negotiating table, we also renew
our support for the efforts of the Secretary-General to
reach a final settlement acceptable to both parties.
The dissemination of the culture of peace and the
spirit and values of tolerance among peoples and
civilizations, the restoration of rights and the
realization of justice among peoples are, in our view,
the best way to maintain peace and security in the
world. The fact that certain questions that have gone
unresolved for so long, the widening gap between the
poor and the rich, the unfair structure of the global
economy and the absence of any attempt to spread
justice, equality and fairness have all contributed to the
creation of conflicts and to the phenomena of
extremism and terrorism.
We in Mauritania condemn and reject terrorism in
all its forms. We are equally committed to adhering to
our tolerant Islamic values, which reject violence and
extremism and call for tolerance and brotherhood. We
believe that the international family should seriously
consider the causes of the phenomenon of terrorism
and ways to confront and eradicate it fully from the
world.
We affirm the importance accorded by developing
countries to development as we look forward with hope
to the results of the Doha Follow-up International
Conference on Financing for Development scheduled
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from 29 November to 2 December 2008. We also
would like to express our concern at the deadlock of
the Doha Round of trade negotiations and call on
industrialized countries to show more flexibility and
stronger political will in that respect.
Development has economic, social and
environmental dimensions. Any shortcomings in any
one of those dimensions negatively affects the others.
That is why we highlight the need to address the
phenomenon of climate change. My country is one of
the 10 countries that would be the most vulnerable to
the effects of greenhouse gas emissions if they should
cause a rise in sea levels. We call on industrial
countries to limit the emissions that lead to greenhouse
effects.
The commitments undertaken by the international
community at the time of the establishment of this
Organization will not be implemented unless all
countries and peoples of the world are able to benefit
from global resources and unless development efforts
in the developing countries are supported with a view
to creating conditions conducive to decent living in
freedom and equality. Only then will we have honoured
the commitments we have always affirmed.